Earthweek: Enterprising cockatoos break lock code

Jul. 17, 2013

Written by

Steve Newman

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued fresh details on a severe respiratory disease that has killed at least 40 people since last September. The U.N. agency said recent victims of the MERS virus have suffered less severe symptoms than those in the initial cases, and some of those infected during the past few weeks had no symptoms at all.

The new details mean that the previous estimated death rate of 50 percent from infection is likely to be too high. Most of the victims have been in, or recently visited, Saudi Arabia and adjacent countries. The WHO stopped short of issuing a public health emergency declaration, which would place governments around the world on heightened alert to protect against the spread of the virus. Of particular concern is the lead-up to the October "hajj" in Saudi Arabia, when more than 3 million Muslims from around the world will take part in the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.

Invader Returns

The invasive water hyacinth plant is again threatening to choke the waters of Africa's greatest lake, endangering fishing along the Kenya-Uganda border. European colonists brought the decorative plant to Africa in 1879. It reached Lake Victoria 110 years later, forming thick mats that covered about 77 square miles by 1998. It then clogged hydroelectric facilities and caused losses to the fishing industry.

But the plant virtually disappeared a few years later, some believe due to the introduction of a weevil intended to control the plant's growth, and other measures. But huge mats of the floating plant have reemerged in recent years, hampering fishermen and providing harbors for mosquitoes and snakes, locals complain.

Human Guides

A group of more than 100 loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings were helped to the southern Caribbean Sea by a corridor of human guides on the morning of July 1. The tiny turtles had hatched near the airport on the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire. Runway lights and other man-made light sources there interfere with the turtles' innate urge to find the ocean by following the brightest light, which has been since prehistoric times the bright moon shining on the water. So to keep the hatchlings from being drawn to the unnatural illuminations, volunteers from Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire formed a human wall to create a distinct path for the baby turtles to scramble through.

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The group reported that 112 loggerheads made it safely to the sea. Loggerheads have been on the threatened species list since 1978, mainly due to pollution and development at their nesting sites.

Tropical Cyclones

Category-4 Typhoon Soulik was approaching Taiwan late in the week. The storm was later expected to make landfall in China. Hurricane Erick skirted Mexico's Pacific coast. Tropical Storm Chantal drenched parts of the Windward Islands, Hispaniola and Cuba.

Earthquakes

Residents of El Salvador's capital rushed into the streets as an offshore 5.9 magnitude quake struck the country. Earth movements were also felt in eastern parts of South Africa, the Bangladesh-India border region, western Sumatra, Papua New Guinea's New Britain Island and New Zealand's Hawkes Bay region.

Popo Blasts

Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano spewed ash 2 miles into the sky to the southeast of Mexico City, where residents of the capital awoke to find a fine layer of the volcanic debris on their cars.

Those who live much closer to the volcano, and those in the path of prevailing winds from around "Popo," have endured much thicker accumulations, which have coated their crops and homes over the past few weeks as the volcano has erupted with greater force. The ash has also polluted water supplies, stunted crop growth and has even disrupted flights at Mexico City's main airport with dozens of canceled flights.

Winged Whizzes

A group of cockatoos has demonstrated surprising intelligence by cracking a complex series of locks in order to gain access to food. The 10 untrained Goffin's cockatoos were observed solving the mechanical puzzle designed by a team of zoologists from Oxford University, Vienna University and the Max Planck Institute.

In order to get to the nut, which was sealed away behind a transparent door in a wooden box, each bird had to open five separate locks in a specific order. The process involved removing a pin, twisting out a cap screw, lifting a bolt, turning a wheel and then finally turning a latch.

One bird, named "Pipin," was able to complete the puzzle by himself in less than two hours. Some of his feathered counterparts were able to gain access to the nut only after being presented with each lock one at a time or after watching another bird complete the task first. But all of the birds were able to repeat the task more quickly after the first time.